Re: FTP Format

On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 9:28 PM, Ken Sims <mdrg8066@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Based on the research that I did for writing programs
to create CSV files, and from what I've seen looking
at Excel-generated CSV files, I think Microsoft's
output meets the CSV standards.

I wouldn't call them standards. There are some conventions which can
be loosely grouped into "stuff Microsoft does" and "stuff everyone
else does", though it is possible to mix and match. (Usually, a
horrible mixture occurs when someone thinks they know how Excel does
things and tries to follow suit, but only gets it partly right.)

Unfortunately the standards allow for two different ways
of handling some character strings and CPYFRMIMPF
probably only handles one of the two ways.

There are more than two.

Microsoft, of course, chose the method that
provides less consistency (they enclose
character strings in "s only when required).

That's only one of several choices that must be made when deciding how
to write a CSV. A lot more goes into it, and that is not the worst of
Microsoft's choices.

John Y.